GLOBAL DIVERSITY POST

On Iran, Hillary Clinton Shames President Obama

via www.nytimes.com

By OBERT MADONDO

US President Barack Obama's new policy of engagement is a joke. At least in the case of Iran, and judging by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's latest obsession with that country.

Lately, Clinton has been hurling one reckless missile after another at the Islamic republic. The Bush era of sabre-rattling is back.

On Sunday, Clinton told us that Iran was becoming a military dictatorship. Today, Clinton issued another warning to Iran. Earlier, Clinton had said the US would welcome peaceful engagement with Iran but not "while they are building their bomb".

The bomb! Iran is building the BOMB! Clear and present danger.

Clinton's sabre-rattling with Iran is good news for war hawks in Israel and Washington. But, in the long run, the Obama Administration is the beneficiary. The US is laying the ground work for another major war. And Iran is in the cross-hairs.

Laura Chinchilla Victory: Another Giant Leap By Womankind, For Mankind

(Costa Rica's new President, Laura Chinchilla. Photo via www.cnn.com)

By OBERT MADONDO

When Laura Chinchilla was elected the first female president of Costa Rica over the weekend, she opened another chapter in the story of women's march to the top. The march is unstoppable.

By my count, President Chinchilla becomes the 10th woman to be elected leader of a country in the last ten years.

Meanwhile, in the Ukraine, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko narrowly lost to pro-Russian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych in the February 7 Presidential runoff.

Even Sarah Palin thinks she's a shot at beating Barack Obama and becoming the first female President of the United States.

The New York Times reports that Palin would consider a run for the White House in 2012.

The other female leaders are:

• Angela Merkel - Germany
• Sheik Hasina Wazed - Bangladesh
• Tarja Halonen - Finland
• Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo - Philippines
• Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf - Liberia
• Cristina Fernandez - Agentina
• Dalia Grybauskaite - Lithuania
• Michelle Bachelet - Chile
• Megawati Sukarnoputri - Indonesia

Lindsey Vonn Sports Illustrated Cover Photo: Sexist & Sexy

By OBERT MADONDO

WomenTalkSports.com is right to complain about Lindsey Vonn's Sports Illustrated cover photo (above). It is sexist and sexually suggestive.

WomenTalkSports.com also reports that only 4% of Sports Illustrated covers feature women and these "are more likely than not to be in sexualized poses and not in action..."

But while objectifying Vonn, the photo is also sexy. It highlights her beauty.

And Vonn herself straddles both sides of the argument. She may have been paid to pose for the photo but she also unleashed her sexuality.

President Jacob Zuma, The 'Gigolo'

Photo via www.huffingtonpost.com

By OBERT MADONDO

South African President Jacob Zuma "needs to stop acting like a gigolo"? Please!

The man isn't acting like a gigolo. He is one. Gigolos do multiple sexual partners.

Zuma, a traditionalist and polygamist with 3 wives already, reportedly fathered an illegitimate child. This is a man who comes home every night three wives and still can't get enough... and we say he's acting?

But Zuma seems to prey on vulnerable women, especially those who would otherwise look up to him for protection. The mother of his love child is a friend's daughter. A few years ago, Zuma was accused of raping a daughter's friend.

Jacob Zuma makes a laughing stock of the South African male. Besides, the practice of polygamy - and having 20 children - is out of step with modern times.

For the good of the human race, Zuma should not just apologize. He should resign and seek therapy.

Australian Open: Chinese Tennis Cruising to the Top

By OBERT MADONDO

Something game-changing is happening at the 2010 Australian Open tennis tournament. Chinese women are not just breaking into top ranks. Chinese Tennis is cruising to the top of the world.

First, Chinese Li Na performed a giant-killing act by defeating 6th-seeded and former Australian Open champ, Venus Williams, in the semi-finals. The victory catapulted Li to the world’s top ten.

Li and fellow Chinese Zheng Jie reached the Australian Open semifinals – the first time two Chinese women have made the top 4 at a Grand Slam tournament - before falling to defending Australian open champion, Serena Williams, and Belgian Justine Henin, respectively.

So close to an all-Chinese women’s Grand Slam final!

Outrage Over Air New Zealand's 'Cougar' Advertisement

By OBERT MADONDO

Admittedly, the Air New Zealand ad below is sexist. It portrays older single women as man-hungry "cougars" who troll bars for fresh "meat".

It has sparked outrage among rape prevention groups in New Zealand.

But the ad is also funny and, most importantly, spotlights a growing phenomenon - sexually aggressive women 35 and over increasingly pursuing men 10 years younger. The era of the cougar is upon us and it's a good thing.

Besides, we're already warming up to, even celebrating, the cougar, aren't we? The TV comedy "Cougar Town", starring Courtney Cox, comes to mind.

Watch the ad and reach your own conclusion.

Novel of the Decade 2000-2009: The Da Vinci Code

By OBERT MADONDO

Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code is my best novel of the entire 2000-2009 decade.

The Da Vinci Code is a lightning-paced story that is unpredictable right up to its stunning conclusion. It's the kind of literature that generates global appeal and controversy.

I read the book, which sold upwards of 80 million copies worldwide and was translated into more than 40 languages. I also watched the movie, which grossed nearly $800 million.

Combining detective, thriller, and conspiracy fiction genres, the Da Vinci Code follows Harvard University symbologist Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu as they investigate the murder of renowned curator Jacques Saunière of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The story unfolds through bizarre riddles, anagrams, cryptic messages, number puzzles and a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci.

But the ultimate answer lies in the possible location of the Holy Grail and the bloody battle between the Roman Catholic organization Opus Dei and the Priory of Sion. The latter is an actual secret society whose members included Da Vinci, Boticelli, Sir Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo.

It's no surprise that The Da Vinci Code has been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church. The novel does the unthinkable; it examines alternative religious history. It suggest that Jesus was married and fathered a child with Mary Magdalene. 

The suggestion that Jesus had sex with Mary Magdalene is... scandalous, isn't it?

But most importantly, The Da Vinci Code suggests that Mary Magdalene played a more constructive and significant tole in the history of Christianity.

The Da Vinci Code is for those who hunger for the real truth buried in history.

What I Learned From The Montreal Massacre

By OBERT MADONDO

Today is the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. I wasn't in Canada when Marc Lepine went on a rampage and slaughtered 14 innocent women at the University of Montreal's School of Engineering in 1989.

But I learned a lot from this madness.

Lepine's hateful rampage resulted from personal failure. He didn't just kill the women because they were "feminists". (As he pulled the trigger, he shouted "You're all feminists!'') He killed them because HE had failed at love, education - everything!

But we must look at this incident not just as an issue of sexism and violence against women. Levin blamed women for his weaknesses and failures as a man.

His is not just a classic case of male hatred torwards women; it's a reflection of a barbaric modern society where misogyny is encouraged. We live in a society where insecure "powerful" dictators unleash violence on their own people. Insecure, frustrated "powerful" countries invent reasons to wage suicidal wars against "enemies", which are mostly weak nations that are no threats to their survival at all.

Kudos to all the underdogs out there fighting back the madness of the Marc Lepines of this world. You're making the world a better place.

Naked Carla Bruni Not So Hot, After All

Photo via www.huffingtonpost.com

BY OBERT MADONDO

She's a one-time supermodel career and pop singer. Since she married one of the most powerful men in the world, French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, she's been in the global news almost every day.

So, why couldn't Carla Bruni's nude photo hit the desired undisclosed price ($91 000?) at a recent Paris auction? The photo was withdrawn and later sold for 6,000 Euros, according to this Huffington Post report.

Could it be that she is not so hot with her clothes off, after all? Or maybe it's all Nicolas Sarkozy's fault? Sarkozy's height, even?

Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2009: Women Shut Out

via artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com

By OBERT MADONDO

I'm not a women and not a feminist - yet. But the bias in Publishers Weekly's ranking of the best fiction and non-fiction of 2009 disgusts me. The list is as subjective as it is chauvinistic. No woman writer makes the top ten.

That's right, no women makes Publishers Weekly's top 10 Best Books of 2009. No Margaret Atwood. No Mavis Gallant. No Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. And certainly no Herta Müller, the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature.

But there is still sanity around. In response to Publishers Weekly's all-male madness, sanity today assumes the name of Women in Letter and Literary Arts (WILLA).

WILLA has a list of Great Books by Women in 2009 that Publishers Weekly deliberately missed. Check the list out. Join WILLA's Facebook Group.

I just did.

Yulia Tymoshenko: Hottest Head of State

(Image by Minirobot via Flickr)

By OBERT MADONDO

US President Barack Obama is not the hottest Head of State, after all. It's Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

So says Hottest Heads of State, a site that claims to use "a scientific and unbiased ranking of world leaders in order of hotness."

I'd give PM Tymoshenko the No. 1 spot for as long as she's in power. Reason: her hair, which she normally wears it in a unique traditional Ukrainian wrap-around braid.

Fluvia Lacerda: Curves Worth Dying For

(Brazilian plus-sized model Fluvia Lacerda. Photo via www.caras.com.br)

By OBERT MADONDO

Iconic German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld thinks 'No One Wants To See Curvy Women'.

What crazy planet is this buffoon from?

Has he ever met a real woman in his life? Like plus-sized Brazilian model, Fluvia Lacerda (pictured).

Fluvia is endowed with the curves to die for.

More Fluvia...

Facebook World: Weird and Dangerous

Image via Wikipedia

By OBERT MADONDO

The Facebook world is increasingly becoming a weird and dangerous one. The other day - petion, some maniacal hater posted to Facebook a poll asking users to vote:"should Obama be killed?"

Now John Forehand, a Pennsylvania man, has been arrested for asking biological daughter for sex on Facebook.

More interesting is the man's state of mind. The man is sick.

He tried to convince his daughter that parents' abuse of their own children is right. He allegedly told the child that "not many other fathers and daughters are this brave, so not many of them are so lucky to experience all these pleasures."

Forehand obviously intended to immortalize and celebrate the abuse after wards. The authorities lured him to what he believed would be a meeting with his daughter. He came armed to the tooth with a box of condoms, camera and tripod.

On the positive side, Facebook has actually helped the authorities to identify and arrest yet another online predator.

Call Nicole Eggert Fat and You Die

By OBERT MADONDO

"Baywatch" star Nicole Eggert has put in considerable weight lately. And the self-appointed weight police is out to get her - judging and calling her FAT.

She is not fat. She's the real deal.

Eggert herself is not letting men's idealizations of women go unchallenged this time. In this Funnie Or Die video, her message is simple but emphatic:

"Call me fat and you die."

Nicole Eggert is BACK IN BAYWATCH! from Nicole Eggert

Afghan Women in Politics: Afghan Star's Tarana Wins Seat

via www.time.com

(Afghan singer Farida Tarana at a studio in Kabul. Massoud Hossaini / AFP / Getty)

TIME | ARYN BAKER | October 6, 2009

To most Afghans, the face of Farida Tarana, 27, evokes her tumultuous 2006 ascent to the No. 8 position on the widely watched local version of American Idol. She was the first female competitor from the conservative western province of Herat, and while she charmed audiences nationwide with her joyful renditions of classic Afghan songs, she was persecuted by conservatives for daring to break cultural taboos against women singing in public. These days, however, her face, emblazoned on election posters and billboards across Kabul, symbolizes the shattering of new barriers: popularly elected women in politics.

READ FULL STORY FROM TIME

Hands Off Michelle Obama

via www.guardian.co.uk

(Silvio Berlusconi meeting the Obamas at the G20 summit. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images.)

Silvio Berlusconi isn't the first to comment on Michelle Obama's skin: there's a branch of the media dedicated to ogling her.

The Guardian | GINA MCCAULEY | Tues, September 29, 2009

I join the ranks irritated with Silvio Berlusconi for referring to Michelle Obama as "suntanned" at a rally on Sunday – but for a different reason. I'm irritated because the Italian prime minister's gaffe will undoubtedly trigger another round of the media's public vivisection of Michelle Obama. Its hard to muster outrage at Berlusconi when there is an entire cottage industry of news organisations paying good money to talk about the first lady's body.

READ FULL STORY FROM THE GUARDIAN

RELATED:

Obama's 'Tan' - Berlusconi Does it Again

OPINION: Italian PM Berlusconi is Addicted to Sex

Michelle Obama: The Shorts Heard Round the World

Vagina Exposed on So You Think You Can Dance (EXPLICIT)

via www.realityblurred.com

By OBERT MADONDO

It happened on last night's episode of the Fox hit show So You Think You Can Dance. An aspiring contestant reacted to the news that she'd be progressing to the next round by rolling on the floor and spreading her legs.

She wore a short skirt and no underwear.

In a state of complete abandonment the contestant exposed her bare crotch and herself to the world.

YouTube has since deleted the video but both The Huffington Post and Perezhilton.com still have it in slow motion.

Sure, it's just a vagina and we adults have seen one. But this was primetime and on Fox, conservative America's favorite.

The question is: how much will the FCC fine Fox for what's obviously Vaginagate? Please don't tell me: nothing. Not after the gods of decency slapped CBS with a $550 000 fine for Janet Jackson's Nipplegate, where Jackson showed her breast on live television during the Super Bowl halftime show.

RELATED:

Naomi Wolf to Write History of The Vagina

The Women Have Spoken: Brazilian Men Are Second Best in Bed, German Men Worst

By OBERT MADONDO

This one is for my single female friends who are seriously looking and want nothing but the best between the sheets: avoid especially German and English men. Shoot for Spanish or Brazilian men.

That is according to 15,000 well-travelled women from 20 countries polled by global research website Onepoll.com and as reported by dailymail.co.uk.

But this was much more than a poll. The well-travelled connoisseurs of sex named and shamed:

WORLD'S WORST LOVERS:

1.    Germans (Too smelly)

2.    English (Too lazy) - "let women do all the work"

3.    Sweden (too quick)

4.    Holland (Too dominating)

5.    America (Too rough)

6.    Greece (Too lovey-dovey)

7.    Wales (Too selfish)

8.    Scotland (Too loud)

9.    Turkey (Too sweatie)

10.    Russia (Too hairy)

WORLD'S BEST LOVERS

1.    Spain

2.    Brazil

3.    Italy

4.    France

5.    Ireland

6.    South Africa

7.    Australia

8.    New Zealand

9.    Denmark

10.    Canada

G-20 Wives: A Picture of Near-Perfect Racial Diversity

photo via www.politicsdaily.com

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/26/g-20-wives-who-was-the-be_n_300416.html?slidenumber=1#slide_image

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/26/g-20-wives-who-was-the-be_n_300416.html?slidenumber=2#slide_image

Could a Mixed-Race Contestant Become a Chinese Idol?

(Lou Jing, center, is seen during a TV show in Shanghai on Sept. 4, 2009. Imaginechina. via www.time.com)

TIME | Simon Elegant & Chengcheng Jiang | Wednesday, September 23, 2009

In many ways, Lou Jing is a typical young woman from Shanghai. Pretty and confident, she speaks Mandarin heavily accented with the lilting tones of the Shanghai dialect and browses the malls of this huge city for the latest fashions.

But there is one thing that distinguishes this 20-year-old from her peers, something that has made her the unwitting focus of an intense public debate about what exactly it means to be Chinese: the color of her skin. Born to a Chinese mother and an African-American father whom she has never met, the theater student rocketed into the public consciousness last month when she took part in an American Idol–esque TV show, Go! Oriental Angel.

READ FULL STORY ON TIME

One Man, 4 Wives and One Wedding

(Bridegroom Milton Mbhele, with his four brides, left to right, Happiness, Thobile, Simangele, and Zanele at their western wedding in Weenen, near Ladysmith, South Africa, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009. AP Photo/Str)

By OBERT MADONDO

It's history - of the worst kind - as a South African man marries four wives at the same time. Milton Mbele, 44, wed the 4 women in a two-day wedding ceremony that started today and ends Monday with a traditional Zulu ceremony. 

So why am I, an African and unapologetic advocate of "global diversity", whining? After all, South African law recognizes traditional polygamous marriages. Jacob Zuma, the newly-minted President of South Africa, has three wives. And polygamy is still accepted among some of the famous tribes of Southern Africa, particularly the Zulus and Swazis.

I'm whining because...

One: Thanks to the bride-price practice, each women is priced. Individually and collectively, Mbele's wives are very cheap. He paid a total of 33 cows in bride-price. I'm told a cow is about $250 dollars these days. Do the math. That's all the four women are worth.

Two: Power is a factor here. And it's power that perpetuates the dominance of men over women. Having paid the hallowed pride-price, Mr. Mbele becomes not only the man of the house. He owns the women. The women owe it to their parents to be good (translation: subservient and obedient) to their man. With four women competing for his attention Mr. Mbele is much more than a man. He's Godly.

Mackenzie Phillips Had Consensual Sex With Her Own Father

via www.people.com

(Mackenzie Phillips Photo by: Dane Andrew / ZUMA)

By OBERT MADONDO

This is one of those personal revelations that enrages those of us who have a heightened sense of right and wrong. Former child actress Mackenzie Phillips tells PEOPLE in a forthcoming tell-all book that she had a long-term incestuous relationship with her dad, musician John Phillips of the '60s band the Mamas and the Papas.

The fact that the relationship was consensual doesn't make it right. Neither does the fact that Phillips survived divorce, drug addiction and arrests.

Writes Phillips of one particular incident when she was 19 and a heavy drug user:

"I had tons of pills, and Dad had tons of everything too. Eventually I passed out on Dad's bed.""My father was not a man with boundaries. He was full of love, and he was sick with drugs. I woke up that night from a blackout to find myself having sex with my own father."

I hear "exploitation" and "abuse". And denial.

As a liberal, I'm cool with dismantling the boundaries, but only if there is no exploitation of the less powerful.

Oprah's BAD Book Pick: Say You Are One of Them

(Photo via www.huffingtonpost.com)

By OBERT MADONDO

For me at least, Oprah Winfrey has ruined a publishing week that would have ended on a high note with the release of Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol".

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/say-youre-one-of-them-dis_n_290604.html

OBy

The Talk Show host chose Nigerian Jesuit priest Uwem Akpan's "Say You Are One of Them", a collection of five short stories, for her 63rd pick for the Oprah Book Club.

Welcome to Africa viewed through stereotypes.

First, the stories are set in well-known recent African centers of distress: Rwanda, Kenya, Benin, Nigeria and Ethiopia.

Second, the subject matter offers an Africa that is a wasteland of poverty, makeshift shanties, refugees, religious conflict, child slavery, violence, child prostitution, corruption and tribal conflict.

"Say You Are One of Them" is a collection of fictionalized well-known African headlines and stereotypes.

But I've nothing against Akpan, who studied creative writing at the University of Michigan. "Say You Are One of Them" is his debut book and Oprah Winfrey's first ever short fiction pick.

As an African, I actually applaud Akpan for tackling the harsh realities of life for children in Africa today. He gave the children a voice by telling the stories from a child's point of view.

Oprah should have considered the effect of a narrative that reinforces stereotypes before she chose this book. She shouldn't have forgotten that her word is the word of God.

With her endorsement, literature lovers and Oprah's fans in particular, will buy and read this book in their thousands. In the innocent reader's mind, the stories will represent both African reality and fiction.

Surely, Oprah could have done a lot better than participate in this clear reinforcement of Western stereotypes about Africa. While there are overwhelming problems in much of the continent, there is also boundless hope. Love flourishes too.

There is fiction that celebrates these and other positive African attributes. Oprah just didn't search hard enough for it.

CANADA: Second Class Citizens

(Suaad Hagi Mohamud, who was detained for three months in Kenya after authorities decided she didn't resemble her passport photo, embraces her son Mohamed Hussein upon her arrival at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Aug. 15, 2009. Mohamud had been trapped in Nairobi since May 21, when Canadian consular officials branded her an "imposter" and accused her of using a false passport. DNA testing in Canada from her son and ex-husband confirmed her identity. (Mike Cassese/Reuters))

via www.globalpost.com

GlobalPost | SANDRO CONTENTA | Wed, Septwmber 16, 2009

TORONTO, Canada — Nothing quite captures a bittersweet sense of despair in Canada as the end of summer. The long dark winter looms.

To make matters worse, falling temperatures have been marked in recent years by a corresponding rise in election fever. This end of summer, to the regret of many, is no different.

The season’s political tone was set two weeks ago by Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, the former Harvard University professor with close ties to the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

He served notice that his party would no longer prop up the minority government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. That sets the stage for a possible federal election this fall, which would be the fourth in five and a half years.

In justifying why Canadians might head to the polls again only a year after the last federal election, Ignatieff dished out the usual charge of economic mismanagement. More original was his allegation that the Harper government is abandoning Canadian citizens in distress abroad.

READ FULL STORY FROM THE GLOBALPOST

The Only Ethiopian in Brazil

(Weinshet Kifle, 34, arrived in Brazil thinking she was the only Ethiopian in the country. (Seth Kugel/GlobalPost))

via www.globalpost.com

Alienated and out of hair gel, one woman struggles to hold on to her heritage.

Global Post | SETH KUGEL | September 13, 2009

SAO PAULO, Brazil — As an Ethiopian national living in the heart of Sao Paulo state’s sugar cane country, 34-year-old Weinshet Kifle is part of a very, very small ex-pat community: herself.

That means that unlike Americans in search of peanut butter in Paris or Brits craving cricket in Karachi, Kifle lives a life of almost complete isolation from her native culture in the half-million person city of Ribeirao Preto. Though she takes solace in a few traits the locals share with Ethiopians, like a natural friendliness and love of expertly cooked meat, there are no stores that sell berbere spice or teff flour, and no friends to chat with in Amharic.

READ FULL STORY FROM GLOBAL POST

Women Firmly in Control as Toronto International Film Festival Opens

(Danish Film Director Lorne Scherfig. Image by Getty Images via Daylife)

By OBERT MADONDO

It's next to impossible for women to land film directing jobs in Hollywood where more than 90% of the coveted jobs are held by men. But women are firmly in control at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) which opened Thursday.

I counted at least 18 women directors and their movies:

Sarah Watt - My Year Without Sex

Lorne Scherfig - An Education

Jordan Scott - Cracks

Catherine Corsini - Partir

Ruba Nadda - Cairo Time

Margareth Olin - The Angel

Andrea Arnold - Fish Tank

Jessica Hausner - Lourdes

Susanne Schneider - The Day Will Come

Ounie Lecomte - A Brand New Life

Rachel Ward - Beautiful Kate

Rainer Frimme - La Pivellina

Claire McCarthy - The Waiting City

Shirin Neshat - Women Without Men

Margaret Corkery - Eamon

Dorothée van den Berghe - My Queen Karo

Drew Barrymore - Whip It

Sandra Fierlinger - My Dog Tulip

Even the New York Times has noticed the presence of women at the TIFF:

"...female filmmakers have managed to occupy some of this 10-day festival’s most valuable slots: those showcase screenings and press conferences in the first couple of days, when everyone is still paying attention."

Could TIFF 2009 be another watershed moment for women directors and produce another Sophia Coppola?

Female directors the the TIFF are in the spotlight. Danish Director Lorne Scherfig's An Education, starring newcomer Carey Mulligan, is even generating Oscar buzz.

Time will tell.

Dutch "Norah Jones"

(Dönmez still performs at her parents' restaurant every weekend. Photo Maurice Boyer)

via www.nrc.nl

19-year-old Turkish-Dutch singer Karsu Dönmez is the 'Dutch answer to Norah Jones'. She looks and sounds like Norah Jones. She's as talented. She plays the piano. Karsu has played - twice - at the Carnegie Hall in New York.

'The Work of the Devil': Crime in a Remote Religious Community

(Mennonite women and girls in the lowlands of east Bolivia. Photograph: Bojan Brecelj/Corbis)

A colony of Mennonites in the lowlands of Bolivia has been traumatised by allegations of drugging, rape and child abuse

The Guardian | ANDRES SCHIPANI | September 10, 2009

The road to Manitoba is dusty and the four-hour drive terribly hot. But at its end, there is a scene from a fairy tale. Shiny milk tanks line the entrance to farmhouses set amid impeccably manicured lawns. Laughing children pass on a horse-drawn carriage along a well-kept road without cars or lorries. Behind a gaggle of geese run a clutch of little blond girls wearing big straw hats with dark bows and flowery dresses.

But something has poisoned this apparent idyll. A little further on, three blue-eyed men sit by the roadside, all in the classical Mennonite outfit of dark overalls and baseball caps. One is Carlos Knodel. In the quiet sunshine, he tells me his family's scarcely believable story: Knodel's 57-year-old mother, his 29-year-old sister Ángelita, who has learning difficulties, his wife, his two teenage female cousins, his aunt and his pregnant sister-in-law have all been raped. Not – it's said – by outsiders, but by young men from within this devoutly religious 2,000-strong community. With breathtaking understatement, he tells me: "This has changed us. This has changed us for ever." The other two nod in agreement.

READ FULL STORY FROM THE GUARDIAN

First a Gender Test, Now a Makeover: Track Star Takes Control of her Image

(South African runner Caster Semenya has a four-page spread in this issue of You, her country’s best-selling English magazine.)

Globe & Mail | JOSH WINGROVE | Wed, September 9, 2009

Faced with the resignation of her coach and the imminent release of gender tests, embattled South African track star Caster Semenya got a magazine makeover and called the global debate over her gender a "joke."

The 18-year-old Ms. Semenya's life has been flipped upside down since she won the 800-metre race in Berlin last month with a blazing time of one minute, 55.45 seconds, well ahead of any competitor.

READ FULL STORY FROM THE GLOBE & MAIL

Naomi Wolf to Write History of the Vagina

via www.observer.com

The New York Observer | LEON NEYFAKH | September 8, 2009

Naomi Wolf is going back to her roots. The journalist and author, who has seemingly been on a break for the past couple of years from writing books on the kinds of feminist themes that made her famous in the early 1990s, has signed on with the Ecco Press for a project tentatively titled A Cultural History of the Vagina.

CANADA: In a Shrinking Workforce Women Outnumber Men

(Margaret Gates who works in information technology for Enbridge. Richard Lautens/Toronto Star)

Via www.thestar.com

Historic milestone as more women than men employed in Canada in first 6 months of this year

Toronto Star | LAURIE MONSERBRAATEN | September 5, 2009

It has finally happened. More Canadian women than men were in paid employment during the first half of 2009, according to Statistics Canada. But on the eve of annual Labour Day celebrations Monday, this historic milestone holds little promise for women in their longstanding battle for economic equality.

FULL STORY FROM THE TORONTO STAR

Miyuki Hatoyama, The First Lady Who Went to Venus

(Japan’s next first couple, Miyuki Hatoyama and her husband Yukio Hatoyama, last week in Tokyo. Photo via thelede.blogs.nytimes.com)

By OBERT MADONDO

Is this First Lady for real?

Japan's new First Lady, Miyuki Hatoyama, 66, is an actress, TV personality, clothes maker, time traveler, and one-time visitor to our neighboring planet Venus. She claims to have traveled to Venus in a UFO in the 1970s.

For those who would dare to doubt Ms. Hatoyama, she wrote a book called "Very Strange Things I've Encountered". This New York Times quote:

"Ms. Hatoyama wrote in “Very Strange Things I’ve Encountered,” a book published last year, that before she divorced her first husband and married Mr. Hatoyama, she may have visited our neighboring planet: “While my body was sleeping, I think my spirit flew on a triangular-shaped U.F.O. to Venus,” she said. “It was an extremely beautiful place and was very green.” Her first husband suggested that it was probably just a dream — but Mr. Hatoyama, she insisted, would not be so dismissive. “My current husband has a different way of thinking,” she said. “He would surely say, ‘Oh, that’s great!’"

Should Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's word not be enough, US actor Tom Cruise may help. Ms. Hatoyama claims she knew Cruise in a past life. She claims he was incarnated as a Japanese.

I smell The Last Samurai movie in this one. Cruise plays Captain Nathan Algren, an American military advisor who embraces the Samurai culture he was hired to destroy after he is captured in battle.

South Africa Rallies Around 800m World Champion Caster Semenya

via www.telegraph.co.uk

South African authorities hit back at the international athletics world's treatment of 800 metre gold medallist Caster Semenya, insisting that she is not only a woman but drug free.

The world champion arrived back at Johannesburg's OR Tambo international Airport to a heroine's welcome and the country's athletics authorities wasted no time in defending her.

Leonard Chuene, president of Athletics South Africa (ASA), who has stepped down from the International Association of Athletics Federations council while it investigates Semenya, denied that the controversial former East German coach Ekkart Arbeit, who now works as ASA's head coach, could have doped her.

READ FULL STORY ON THE TELEGRAGH

HISTORY: Miss Universe 2009

via english.rednet.cn

By OBERT MADONDO

Miss Universe 2009 made history. 83 countries and territories came to compete. They ended up witnessing history. Dayana Mendoza, Stefanía Fernández and Venezuela, the common denominators.

Venezuela's outgoing Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza came to Atlantis Paradise Island, in Nassau, Bahamas, to surrender the world crown on August 23.

Stefanía Fernández, reigning Miss Venezuela, came to bring the title back to Venezuela. She was crowned Miss Universe 2009.

The outgoing queen crowned her successor from the same country. History.

Robin Williams May Play 'Britain's Got Talent' Star Susan Boyle in Film

via www.nypost.com

ROBIN Williams (pictured) might dig up his "Mrs. Doubtfire" drag and play Susan Boyle in a movie about the Scottish spinster who became a sensation on "Britain's Got Talent." "I've been asked if I want to play Susan in the movie," Williams told Britain's Telegraph. "I think she's incredible."

In 1993's "Mrs. Doubtfire," Williams played a divorced dad who loses custody of his kids and disguises himself as a Scottish housekeeper so he can see them again. He's been doing impressions of Boyle and singing "I Dreamed a Dream" in a thick Scottish accent to his friends.

OPINION: Italian PM Berlusconi is Addicted to Sex

(Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi. Image via Wikipedia)

By OBERT MADONDO

If there was any doubt that Silvio Berlusconi was addicted to sex, members of the Italian PM entourage have settled the matter. They are urging Berlusconi to seek treatment for sex addiction.

And why not? Berlusconi’s alleged sexual exploits are fast becoming the stuff of legend. There are allegations of paid sex with escorts. There are recordings of pillow sex talk, prominent of which is the one made by Patrizia D’Addario, an escort who claims to have been paid 1,000 euros to sleep with Berlusconi.

Israel Grapples With a New Kind of Violence

via www.globalpost.com

TEL BARUCH, Israel — It may surprise you to learn that many Israelis are only now realizing they live in a violent place. And they’re freaking out. Not the terrorist violence for which Israel is something of a byword. The murderous gang beating type of violence. The dismembered women kind of violence. The homophobic hate crime sort of violence.

FULL STORY FROM GLOBALPOST

Related articles by Zemanta

• Three killed in Tel Aviv gay bar shooting (guardian.co.uk)

Orianthi One of 12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists

via www.elle.com

Australian newcomer Orianthi is only 24 but she's set to rock the world, if one is to believe the King of Pop, Carlos Santana and Elle.

Michael Jackson handpicked her for what would have been his comeback tour.

Santana endorsed her when he told the Aussie Today show: "If I was going to pass the baton to someone, she would be my first choice."

With her youth and melodic wailing, I'd be surprised if Orianthi is left out of Rolling Stone’s next list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

For now, she is one of Elle's 12 greatest female electric guitarists.

Related articles by Zemanta

• 'Rolling Stone' Magazine Pays Tribute To Michael Jackson (pinkisthenewblog.com)
• Award Winning Guitarist Carlos Santana to Lend Smooth Grooves and Trademark to Guitar Hero 5 (ps2.ign.com)
• Michael Jackson (slideshare.net)
• Michael Jackson's Guitarist Is Not Joining Panic At The Disco (mtv.com)

US President Obama's Kenyan Grandmother Joins the Solar Generation

Photo via www.ecorazzi.com

Kogelo, Kenya — Young Kenyans working with Greenpeace’s Solar Generation are tackling the twin problems of energy poverty and climate change today, by installing solar panels on the Senator Barack Obama School in Kogelo and on the roof of the house of Mama Sarah – the US President’s grandmother.

Read full story from Greenpeace International

Around the web:

Obama's Grandmother Gets A Solar Upgrade, New Roof

Italian City to Fine Muslim Women in Burkinis

via www.alarabiya.net

Gianluca Buonanno, the mayor of a northern Italian city has barred Muslim women from wearing the body-concealing burkini and will fine them €500 ($700) if they're spotted wearing the garment around swimming pools or riversides, according to this report by alarabiya.net

Surely racism knows how to appeal to our fears and fragilities. For Mayor Buonanno, "The sight of a masked woman could disturb small children, not to mention problems of hygiene."

But who exactly is talking here? Mayor Buonanno is openly anti-immigration. He doesn't conceal his racial intolerance either.

"We don't have to be tolerant all the time," he said.

Read full story from Alarabiya.net

Forbes' List Puts Angela Merkel Ahead of Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton

via www.guardian.co.uk

Just back from holiday, looking refreshed weeks before she is expected to win the September election as Germany tentatively eases itself out of recession, Angela Merkel enjoyed more good news today: she is still the most powerful woman in the world.

FULL STORY FROM THE GUARDIAN

The Women’s Crusade

via www.nytimes.com

IN THE 19TH CENTURY, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape. FULL STORY FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES

PHOTO OF THE MOMENT August 12 2009: The President And The Brand New Justice

By OBERT MADONDO

 

(Pres. Barack Obama laughs with new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor at a White House reception in her honor, August 12, 2009.)

 

Photo via VOA News

 

 

 

 

NEPAL: Women Outraged by 'Humiliating' Marriage Scheme

Andrew Buncombe | NZ Herald News | August 12, 2009

 

 

(Divorced women in Nepal are forbidden from wearing colourful clothing or attending important events. Photo / AP)

 

DELHI - Women protesters marched through the streets of Kathmandu in their hundreds after the Government announced a "humiliating" scheme to offer financial incentives for men to marry widows.

The scheme has been deemed necessary by the Government of Nepal in part because of the 10-year-long civil war that claimed up to 13,000 lives and widowed many women.

Such women are widely ostracised and discriminated against in the conservative country.

Read full story from NZ Herald News

Burger King Sells Oral Sex

By OBERT MADONDO

 

 

You can't miss the blatant sexual advertising in this Burger King's ad. A sandwich is by itself an obscenity. But there is a clear and shameless attempt to evoke oral sex in the ad.

 

First, the product is a Super Seven Incher.

 

Second, a blond woman looks surprised as an elongated sandwich heads towards her open, red-lipsticked mouth.

 

Third, the thing, which TASTES BETTER, will BLOW your mind away.

 

And of course one can't miss the sexist innuendo. A WOMAN is about to give a blow job to a giant 7-inch hunk of meat.

Three Reasons To Question the Gates Foundation

KATE JONGBLOED | Unpacking Development | August 5, 2009

 

(Bill & Melinda Gates - Photo via Unpacking Development)

 

Writing a paper on how global health governance and financing is changing made me aware of the influence the Gates Foundation has in setting the global health agenda.  As well as learning about its achievements, I also started learning about some of the critiques people have made of the Gates Foundation approach.

 

The Facts:

 

The Gates Foundation is a BIG player in global health.  In 2007, the Foundation’s endowment stood at over $60billion, an amount greater than the GDP of 70% of countries in the world.  The money goes to all sorts of programs, including delivering services (eg, vaccinations) and research (eg, malaria).

 

The Debates:

 

Within international health, there is some concern about the degree of power the Gates Foundation has in setting the priorities and controlling what gets funded and what doesn’t.

1. Unlike governments, the Gates Foundation is accountable only to itself.
2. Programs that focus on very specific aspects of health, like a particular disease, don’t help to build robust and equal health care systems.
3. The Foundation’s investments sometimes contravene its charitable mandate.

Go to Unpacking Development for full story

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turkish Reality TV Show Aims to Convert Non-Believers

Spiegel Online International | August 3, 2009

By Daniel Steinvorth in Istanbul

 

(Choosing my religion: An advertisement for the controversial show "Penitents Compete.")

A new reality television show has rabbis, priests, imams and monks trying to make non-believers pious. The Vatican is reportedly sending a priest, a Buddhist monk has been recruited and atheists who convert will win a trip to a holy site. The Muslim religious authority in Turkey is not amused.

Channel T is not exactly one of the major players in the Turkish television business. And the niche station, tucked away in a commercial area of Istanbul, has made headlines primarily because of the woman who runs it, Seyhan Soylu. Often simply called "Sisi" by the press, the 36 year old is a former police officer and journalist, a transsexual and the enfant terrible of Turkey.

Read full story from Spiegel Online International

 

CANADA: Finally, Men’s Lifespans Are Catching Up

Julien Russell Brunet | MACLEANS | July 30, 2009

In 140 years, the average lifespan for men could be 100

For more than 100 years, Canadian women have outlived men. But according to the recently released “Canada Pension Plan Mortality Study,” men are about to start catching up in a big way.

Over the next 65 years, it’s predicted that while women will add five years to their life expectancy at birth, Canadian men will top that with an additional seven. Today, women live approximately five years longer than men, but by the year 2075, that gap will have narrowed to three years.

Read full story from MACLEANS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 140 years, the average lifespan for men could be 100

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Outcasts United

By OBERT MADONDO

 

I haven't read Outcasts United, Warren St. John's "story of a refugee soccer team, a remarkable woman coach and a small southern town turned upside down by the process of refugee resettlement". But I stumbled on the book's website and fell instantly in love with the book.

 

Outcats United is my story too. The soccer players in the book are from diverse racial backgrounds, united by the beautiful game and my passion, soccer.

 

Like the soccer players in Outcasts United, I'm a former refugee from a troubled country, Zimbabwe. Now permanently based in North America (Canada), I went through the sometimes unforgiving process of building a new life in a new country. I've lived in a small city facing change while not yet ready to embrace diversity.

 

So, I'm posting the following excepts from the information provided on the website. 

 

The Book:

 

Outcasts United is the story of a refugee soccer team, a remarkable woman coach and a small southern town turned upside down by the process of refugee resettlement.

In the 1990s, that town, Clarkston, Georgia, became a resettlement center for refugees and a modern-day Ellis Island for scores of families from war zones in Liberia, Congo, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan. The town also became home to Luma Mufleh, an American-educated Jordanian woman who founded a youth soccer team to help keep Clarkston’s boys off the streets. These boys named themselves the Fugees -- short for refugees.

Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees, their families and their charismatic coach as they struggle to build new lives in a fading town overwhelmed by change. Theirs is a story about resilience in the face of extraordinary hardship, the power of one person to make a difference and the daunting challenge of creating community in a place where people seem to have so little in common.

The Author:

Warren St. John has written for the New York Observer, The New Yorker, Wired and Slate, in addition to his work as a reporter for The New York Times.  His first book, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania (2004), was named one of Sports Illustrated’s best books of the year, and ranked number one on The Chronicle of Higher Education's list of the best books ever written about collegiate athletics.

Some Reviews:

“If you only read one book over the next few months, it should be Outcasts United.” —Bill Littlefield, NPR

 

A "richly detailed, uplifting account of a young Jordanian immigrant who created a soccer program in Georgia for young refugees from war-torn nations . . . educational and enriching." — Kirkus Reviews

 

 

 

 

Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein Makes an Ass of The Law

By OBERT MADONDO

 

 

My heart goes to Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, a Sudanese journalist currently on trial for wearing pants/trousers. She faces 40 lashes if convicted under Article 152 of Sudan’s criminal law, which forbids “indecent clothing in public”. 

 

Ten other women have already been whipped for similar offences under Islamic law.

 

In an incredible show of courage, Lubna waived her United Nations immunity to allow the trial to go on. Since the trial started, she has send the world press hundred of invitations to her trial.

 

Lubna is inviting us to walk with her on this horrible trip to her flogging. She is putting the law on trial.